Anzac Day 'just a party for drunk yobbos' - Aussie attitude study

The Anzac Day parade passing through Brisbane. Picture: The Courier-MailSource:The Courier-Mail

FEARS Anzac Day is nothing more than a bogan day of work-free drinking have been revealed in an intensive study of Aussie attitudes.

A study for the Department of Veterans’ Affairs to determine community attitudes ahead of Anzac days 100th centenary used 36 focus groups of eight people totalling 288 participants from all age brackets 18 and over at a cost of $370,000.

According to the report participants talked about "controlling the increasingly excessive use of alcohol and 'yobbo' behaviour during Anzac Day commemorations" which they said "detract from the original spirit of the day and negatively impact on the veteran commemorations and traditions".

People also expressed concerns Anzac Day is starting to revolve around out-of-control parties with excessive alcohol consumption, such as those seen on Australia Day.

"The risk of the commemorations being negatively affected by alcohol and inappropriate behaviour - like Australia Day" was listed high in the concerns of those in the focus groups.

The issues raised also extended to how Australia was being portrayed when visitors attended the Dawn Service held each year at Anzac Cove in Gallipoli on Anzac Day.

"Music concerts and alcohol for most were considered inappropriate and disrespectful at Gallipoli where people should be commemorating (not celebrating) the events that took place at this historic site," the report said.

Australian Defence Force personnel also raised similar concerns.

"We're particularly passionate about the need to promote respect and appreciation of the Anzac Day tradition to guard against this important commemoration being seen as just another holiday," the report said.

The ADF particularly expressed concern about "the increasingly excessive use of alcohol during Anzac Day commemorations nowadays".

A spokeswoman for the Department of Veterans Affairs said the report provided an essential understanding of community attitudes ahead of the 100 year centenary of Anzac day.

"The Australian Government makes no apologies for commemorating this important centenary in the way which it deserves,” the spokeswoman told news.com.au.

“The Anzac Centenary Commission, including past Prime Ministers Hawke and Fraser, handed down its report on the commemorations on 28 March 2011.”

Ms Gillard said from her experiences attending dawn services in Melbourne, it was often the children who convinced their parents to go along.

"When you can see that kind of enthusiasm and embrace by our youngest Australians for commemorating Anzac Day and for what it means for them, then I think we can say as a nation it's an important part of our national identity," she told reporters in Seoul where she is attending a nuclear disarmament conference.

Some of the document's other findings have already drawn criticism from veteran's groups, with earlier reports that the centenary is a "double-edged sword" and a "potential area of divisiveness" because of multiculturalism.

RSL national president Ken Doolan, a member of the Anzac Day National Commission and the Anzac Centenary advisory board, said Anzac Day held a "central place in Australia".

"The Australian people have said overwhelmingly that they want the centenary celebrated," he said.

The report also warned against making celebrations to politically correct saying a fair balance between all sections of the community was needed and raised concerns migrants would potentially feel left out of the event.

Watering it down too far for the sake of political correctness, to the point where it antagonises those who see it as a strong national reference point."

IThe centenary is a "double-edged sword" and a "potential area of divisiveness" because of multiculturalism, a taxpayer-funded report from 2010 finds.

Bureaucrats spent almost $370,000 for focus-group testing and a research paper used by the Government to guide commemoration plans, which listed multiculturalism under "risks and issues" to avoid "unexpected negative complications".

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Diggers groups slammed the report, saying Australians supported the April 2015 centenary celebrations, which are expected to stop the nation, and include travelling exhibitions and special remembrance services.

The report also says organisers should avoid references to current military action because it is "unpopular with young people".

The paper states: "Commemorating our military history in a multicultural society is something of a double-edged sword.

"While the 100th anniversaries are thought to provide some opportunity for creating a greater sense of unity, it is also recognised as a potential area of divisiveness."

More research into the impact of Anzac Day commemorations on recently arrived migrants was suggested.

But the report acknowledged that making the centenary events "overly political correct" would not be well received generally or by military personnel.

Commemorations should be "culturally sensitive and inclusive", the paper said.

It said events to mark the centenary and wars which had claimed the lives of more than 100,000 Australians should not be "unrelentingly gloomy". Any commemoration "needs to allow a positive end, make it uplifting after being reflective".

"Commemoration fatigue" was identified in focus groups if events spanned a planned four years - the same amount of time Australians spent fighting in hellish conditions at places including Gallipoli and the Western Front during World War I.

The paper has been panned by the RSL, which maintains Australia's enthusiasm for the day remains as strong as ever.

RSL national president Ken Doolan, a member of the Anzac Day National Commission and the Anzac Centenary advisory board, said Anzac Day held a "central place in Australia".

"The Australian people have said overwhelmingly that they want the centenary celebrated," he said.

Victorian RSL president David McLachlan said the commemoration had the full support of Australia's Turkish communities and the Turkish Government.

There were no multicultural issues with the planned event, Mr McLachlan said.

Ray Brown, of the Injured Service Persons Association, was horrified by the spending. "We've always seemed to get it right, we have never offended anybody.

"We seem to be able to acknowledge war is not a nice thing and that people on both sides lose out - and we have never had to spend $300,000 combined, let alone in one year," he said.

The cost is on top of more than $103,000 on focus groups to discuss "branding concepts" for the centenary in 2015.

A spokesman for Veterans Affairs Minister Warren Snowdon said the research paper was to "gain an understanding of the views, perceptions, knowledge and aspirations of the Australian people in relation to Anzac commemoration and the impending centenary".